Ban on trans fats would be boon for canola growers

ASSOCIATED PRESS

January 26, 2014 12:01 AM

ASSOCIATED PRESS

January 26, 2014 12:01 AM

In this Dec. 18, 2013 photo are dormant canola plants in a field near El Reno, Okla. U.S. farmers say the federal government's recent announcement that it wants to ban unhealthy trans fats could mean big things for the nation's canola industry. Canola is primarily harvested for an oil that is low in saturated fat and used as a replacement for trans fats. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)AP

TULSA, Okla. -- From Oregon to Oklahoma, farmers have started planting canola in earnest, rotating the yellow-flowered crop that could blossom into a replacement for artery-clogging trans fats found in myriad junk foods, such as cookies, cakes and pies.

The amount of canola being grown in the U.S. has increased dramatically in the past two decades or so, with 1.7 million acres planted in 2012. Some of it is growing in areas such as Oklahoma, which for generations has been dominated by wheat and cattle operations.

As Oklahoma grower Jeff Scott joked, before canola gained popularity, a farmer's idea of crop rotation here was taking an 800-pound steer off a pasture and replacing it with a 500-pounder.

Canola seeds produce oil with less saturated fat than many cooking oils and got a boost last fall when the Food and Drug Administration announced it was changing its view on trans fats. The FDA issued a preliminary decision that trans fat, also called partially hydrogenated oils, would no longer be listed as "generally recognized as safe" and began taking comment from the food industry on a timeline for eliminating their use.

Increased use of canola has led to strong prices that can top other crops. For example, canola now brings farmers about $10 a bushel, compared to about $6 to $7 for wheat.

A well-run canola operation could harvest up to 40 bushels an acre.

"I've been on the ground floor of working with winter canola, and whenever you try something new, you're going to have a lot of challenges, but I tell you what, in the last few years, the winter canola ... (has been) a game changer for farmers. I'm seeing it out in the field," said Heath Sanders, a canola field specialist near Lawton, Okla., who's been rotating winter canola with his other crops for the past seven years on the family farm.

Trans fats lend foods texture and extend their shelf life, but at major cost to the public's health. They lower "good" HDL cholesterol, elevate "bad" LDL cholesterol and can harden arteries. FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg has said doing away with them could prevent 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths a year in the United States.

Large restaurants and foodmakers are already phasing out the use of partially hydrogenated oils and have turned to canola and other oils.